


A Wonderful Guy

by WastelandMessiah



Category: Fallout 3
Genre: Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Female Lone Wanderer - Freeform, Foul Language, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Slow Burn, Tags Are Hard, more tags as story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:13:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24921355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WastelandMessiah/pseuds/WastelandMessiah
Summary: Jane never expected to be thrown out into the wasteland. Then again, she never expected her dad to abandon her in the first place. As she scours the wastes in search for her father, she meets the craziest of individuals. And with that, her life unfolds before her very eyes as she and her newfound companion grow closer in their search for answers.
Relationships: Charon (Fallout)/Female Lone Wanderer, Charon (Fallout)/Lone Wanderer
Comments: 8
Kudos: 22





	1. Getting into it

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work. By all means, leave critiques in the comments. God knows I could use them. Thank you!

A new day had begun. Eyes heavy, Jane tapped her pipboy awake to check the time. 7:00 a.m. She wiped at the crust surrounding her eyes and stood, swaying from her drowsiness. Damn it. She didn’t get a wink of sleep. 

_ GNR.. _

She recalled Moriatry’s backhanded insults but was grateful for the smallest bit of information. Not that she fully trusted the guy. She may or may not have fiddled with the man's terminal. What she  _ had  _ done was confirm that he was being truthful.

Jane flipped through her pipboy to the radio tab; a short list of stations. A distress beacon, some weird government propaganda, static with a hint of gibberish. Ah, Galaxy News Radio. She tuned in to the station and stumbled downstairs for some breakfast.

Wadsworth hovered around the room, blowing dust off shelves and practicing jokes. Jane giggled. She’s heard every joke he had but still insists on asking him for one. She enjoyed giving him the satisfaction of telling them for the “ _ first time _ ”.

On a shelf lay a few boxes of Sugar Bombs, Salisbury steak, BlamCo mac and cheese, and some cans of Cram. In the fridge, some dirty water and leftover mirelurk cakes from the night before.

She tore open a box of Sugar Bombs, plopped herself on her new chair, and closed her eyes. Three dog was hooting about some girl from Vault 101. Neat. She didn’t even know this guy and somehow he knew her life story. Or at least, he thought he did. 

_ Messiah, huh? _ The thought made her giddy. A new life, far away from the dark, dank vault. Away from the overseer and the constant bullying from those Tunnel Snakes. She did miss Amata. Maybe even Paul, but she did  _ not  _ miss Butch.

She looked over at the corner she shoved the old leather jacket into.  _ He got my sweetroll but I got his jacket.  _ A chuckle escaped her and she leaned back into her seat. She munched on the sweet cereal, contemplating her next move. Maybe she’d check in with Moira before she heads out. See what’s up with that book she’s writing.

After finishing up her breakfast and listening to some song about a man and how mighty he thought he was, she hauled her pack out the door and headed for Craterside supply. Jenny called to her as she made her way up the stairs.

“Good mornin’, Janey!” she hollered.

“Heya, Jen! Busy yet?” She had spent some time with her new friend as she adjusted to life in the wasteland. Jenny told her some stories about their family fending for themselves out in the wastes before her parents found Megaton. Now it was just her and her brothers.

“Not yet! Never really are..” Jen gave her a wave before tending to her first customer of the day. Maybe she was never busy, but she still worked hard. It’s not easy cooking with radroach meat and iguana. Where the hell do you even get  _ iguana. _

Jane made her way into Moira’s and was greeted with the emptiest of stares from a man, leaned against the wall.

“Oh, don’t you mind him! He likes to scare people before they even think of messing around. I think he might just be lazy!” Moira, with her ever cheerful voice, welcomed Jane into the store. “So, you ready to hear about that book I’m working on?”

“That’s exactly what I came to talk to you about.” Jane couldn’t help but eye the piece of  _ junk _ Moira was working on. “So, the first chapter?”

“Oh yes! I have three sections of this chapter that I need researched before I can even begin to write! Let’s see..” 

She looked down at a piece of paper she had previously scribbled on, titled, “ _ explodies, possible super powers(?), and meds/food _ ”. 

“You could start with either checking out an old town north of here for mines, getting a  _ little  _ irradiated, or checking an old Super Duper Mart for food and medicine.” She looked up from her paper. “How’s about it?” She smiled at Jane as if any of that stuff was a walk in the park that she’d enjoy, rather than hating herself for even trying.

“Tell me about the Super Duper Mart.”

Moira typed everything Jane needed to know into her pipboy, adding in a little optional note, incase she found an opportunity to find anything extra. 

Jane headed out, ready to make her first big trip out into the wasteland.


	2. Learning the hard way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wounded, Jane makes her way back to megaton. In a drug induced haze, she remembers the past. She rests up in preparation for her journey to GNR.

Turns out, going in guns-blazing was a mistake. 

Jane lay against the cracked wall inside the Super Duper Mart, pushing the plunger of a stimpak she had found, into her bullet-grazed thigh. She hissed an exhale through her teeth and wrapped the leg in cloth. No way in hell was she gonna bleed out in this shithole.

She hoisted herself up, hand against the wall for support, and made her way towards the door. As she trudged her way through the now-empty store, she looked around at the fine job she'd done, ridding it of its former inhabitants.

_ Raiders. _ Or that's what she heard them call themselves. Pretty damn accurate, considering the store was picked clean, with the exception of a few untouched boxes of food and the locked backroom she had picked her way into. Moira was right about his place.

Jane had planned to stop here for Moira on her way to Galaxy News Radio, and then back to Megaton. But she needed to head back to Doc Church’s to get a professional look at her wound. She may have spent her entire life with the best doctor in the vault, but she could never really pick up on that kind of stuff, besides the basics. She knew to disinfect, dress and rest the wound. But if that bitch got infected, she’d be knee deep in shit-town, and she was not going to risk anything getting in the way of finding her father.

* * *

After hauling ass back to Megaton, well, _ hauling leg,  _ she pushed the door open to the clinic and plopped herself on the chair in the entrance. The doc grunted in acknowledgement and walked up front.

“Haven’t seen you in here before.” He locked his eyes on her wrapped thigh. “Looks like you already did my job for me.” He unpeeled the cloth from the wound, pulling it away from the congealed blood it had attached itself too. Jane grimaced but kept her mouth shut tight, teeth clenched.

“Lookin’ like you did a good job too. Disinfected and everything?”

Jane gave a curt nod, letting the man do his thing.

He fiddled through his supplies on the table and pulled out a syringe. “Painful?” he looked her in the eyes for the first time.

“Not too bad. Stings a little.” Jane’s brave face was waning. She could feel her pulse through the wound and each throb made her wince. She had snapped her ankle in the vault around the age of 10, but her dad had her fixed up almost instantly. Well, he had drugged her up enough that she felt fixed.

“I’m gonna give you some med-ex for the pain. Take a few with you when you leave too. You’ll need it in the morning.” He gave her a quick shot in the thigh and placed a few more syringes in her pack. He helped her out of her seat and sent her on her way.

As she stepped out into town, swaying from the drugs, she noticed the sun setting behind the colossal walls. She made her way up to her house and fell inside with a heavy push to the door. 

“Good evening, ma’am. You look rather tired.” Wadsworth hovered toward her, extending an… arm. He guided her upstairs to bed, discarding her pack onto the floor next to the table. “Water, ma’am?” 

She grunted a yes and he left a fresh bottle at the end of her bed and hurried back downstairs, eager to clean the dust collecting on the furniture.

She lay there in haze, thanks to the drugs in her system, as old memories swam through her head. She recalled the time she and Amata first styled their hair like the girls in their old magazines. The way Butch laughed at their sloppy job and told Amata that if she wanted a real styling job, all she’d have to do was- 

She shook her head at the memory and remembered the time her dad had taken her into his clinic to teach her how to stitch a cut. Wally Mack had picked a fight with Officer Gomez- and lost. He bitched and moaned when he found out  _ she  _ was going to be stitching him up.

_ “No way, doc. I’m not letting that spaz lay a finger on me.”  _

And with that, dad had kicked him right out of the clinic.  _ Dick. _

  
The time passed and she found herself growing heavier and heavier into the mattress as she drifted into a deep, hazy sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry. He'll come into the picture soon. ;)


	3. Wrong Turn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane "fights" her way through the underground metro, only to end up in Underworld, where she catches wind of The Ninth Circles "guard dog." Left with a handful of questions, she concludes that she needs to investigate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Implied possible rape/molestation near end of chapter. Please heed my warning.

_ A few weeks had passed, allowing Jane’s gunshot wound to fully heal. She packed her shit and made her way to GNR. _

* * *

  
  


“The Museum of Technology?”

As Jane made her way passed the monstrous corpse of a Behemoth she had fought through getting to Three Dog, she remembered how he bargained with the information he had of her father.  _ Asshole. _

There was a metro station that could take her straight to the museum, if she could manage to navigate underground; _ Jane was not a woman of direction. _

As she traipsed through D.C. looking for the right metro tunnel, she hummed to a particular song on her radio. Something about the Congo and a missionary’s wife. She couldn’t quite grasp what the song was about, so she carelessly continued. Music was nice after listening to Three dog’s forth repeat of the same story in the past hour. She figured everything was pre-recorded. She wondered what, exactly, it was he did all day.

“Dupont station.” Jane looked through the notes on her pipboy to confirm that this was the correct tunnel and headed down. Inside was dark, and the smell of rot and mildew permeated through the air. She flipped her flashlight on as she pinched her nose, trying to rid herself of the urge to retch.

_ Okay, follow the signs. _

After composing herself, she noticed a not-too distant growl, echoing through the tunnels.  _ Ghouls, _ she thought. She pulled her hunting rifle out of its holster and readied herself, leaning against a corner before tilting her head around to see three feral ghouls, huddling around a corpse.

_ Quiet, Jane. Quiet. _

She let out an exhale and reminded herself of her big victory outside the GNR building.  _ You got this. Ain’t no job too big for you. _

She clicked the safety off and eased herself back behind her cover as the snap caught the smallest bit of attention from her targets.

_ Easy now.  _ She wasn’t the most talented shot, but she knew how to run, in case things got too hot.

After the stirring settled around the corner, she peaked over and steadied her aim. She had the chance to knock their numbers down to two.

A quick shot left her ear ringing, as the bullet entered and exited through the ghouls decaying skull.  _ Nice.  _ But now the others were ready and aware of her presence. She would have to be quick. She readied her aim at the next enemy, violently scrambling in her direction.

“Shit, shit, shit.” she kicked herself backwards, ready to defend her exposed appendages and fired a desperate shot. _ A miss. _

“SHIT.” Full speed, she dodged the incoming hands of the grotesque figure and bolted passed, not wanting to risk another few weeks in Megaton, recovering from a second injury, considering she’d even make it out alive. She kicked the rubble beneath her feet as she charged past the second ghoul, flinching at the slight brush of it’s overgrown fingernails against her skin, and made her way to the next tunnel. 

* * *

_ Pant. Pant. _

Somewhere along the line, Jane had made a wrong turn, ending up at the southern exit, nearest to the Museum of History. She recalled her last conversation with Gob at Moriarty’s Saloon the week before. She remembered that it had turned into a refuge for the ghouls of the wasteland that hadn’t succumbed to the more horrific side of radiation poisoning. Relief gripped tight at her breathless lungs as she stormed through the metal exit of the metro. Up the stairs, she was greeted by a friendly face; _ Willow. _

_ “How’s it goin’, tourist?”  _

Jane rested her hand on the railing as she got her bearings. “Tourist?”  _ Pant. Pant. _

_ “Smoothskins like you don’t usually make it long in this part of the city.”  _ She gestured past Jane’s shoulder, out into the vast field of trenches between them and the Museum of Technology.  _ Almost made it _ . 

_ “Mutants. They usually leave us well alone, but humans?” _

She noticed the tension growing on Jane’s shoulders as she released her grip on the railing.

“Why don’t you head on in for a spell. Carol can get you settled, but stay away from The Ninth Circle. That Ahzrukhal is trouble.” She guided Jane to the door by her elbow, checking behind her to see if any mutants had caught onto the smoothskins scent.

As the door closed behind her, Jane took in the sight of the dilapidated building before heading to the next door. She marveled at the half, preserved skeleton of a-

Well, she wasn’t quite sure what it was… A dinosaur? Mr. Broch had some old books about prehistoric creatures but that stuff seemed so long gone, it was hard for her to believe that anyone could actually find any remains of such a creature.

After making her way in and getting directions from Winthrop to Carol’s, Jane found an empty seat and rubbed at the area on her arm that had been previously grazed, realizing that it had broken skin.

“ _ Ah, shit _ .” she huffed as she searched her pack for some alcohol and bandages.

As she patched herself up, a friendly, although gravelly voice, caught her attention.

_ “Someone new! Welcome! Welcome to Carol’s Place! I’m Carol.”  _ The woman stood beside her, notepad in hand, ready to take an order.  _ “Would you like anything to drink? Maybe some food. My dear, I may not be the prettiest sight, but you look terrible.” _

“Gee, Carol. Nice to meet you.” She winced as she ran a finger along her scabbed flesh. “I’ll take a whiskey.”

Carol sat across from her as she set down a bottle, clearly intrigued at having a  _ smoothskin  _ visitor and quietly observed her from the other side of the table.

“Ya know, my friend Gob told me about this place.” She twisted open the bottle. Carol’s eyes widened slightly.

“You know Gob?” A tear welled up in her eye, as if memories of the boy came flooding back. “How is he?”

“Working for some slimy, jerkwad in Megaton. He gets by, though.”  _ Swig. _

_ “Oh that Moriarty bastard.”  _ her hands balled into tight fists. “ _ He bought Gob out of slavery just to make him his own personal slave. What I would do if I ever saw him-”  _ She trailed off.  _ “My poor boy.” _

“It’s alright miss,” Jane set her drink down and looked her in the eye. “He’s made his own friends. Nova and Gob seem to get along quite well.”

Their back and forth continued until Jane asked about The Ninth Circle.

“ _ You keep yourself outta there. _ ” Carol pleaded. “ _ If you think Moriarty is bad, you wouldn’t even know what to think about that Ahzrukhal. He’s vicious.” _

Jane shivered at the thought. How could a man be so cruel? How could anyone be crueler than _ Moriarty? _

_ “And if you piss him off, he’ll send his guard dog after you. If not to kill you, he’ll have you brought in to be used for his own sick pleasure.”  _ Carol had her hands on the table as she leaned slightly forward. “ _ Do not mess with him.”  _

After their conversation ended, Jane bought herself a room and laid herself down for the night. Thoughts of all that happened that day swam through her head, only to be shadowed by a new curiosity.

_ Charon. _

Who was this guy, and why did he follow Ahzrukhals orders so willingly. Her head spun from the whiskey, but his name kept swirling around in her head. She needed to check it out. But not now. 

She leaned into the pillow, insides warm with booze and she drifted off into a deep sleep.

_ She’d check it out tomorrow. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having a great time writing this story. Sorry for short chapters, I'm trying my best. :)  
> edit: grammatical errors


	4. The Guard Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finally speaking with Ahzrukhal about Charon's contract, Jane makes a big decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short chapter to get things moving! Sorry I've been away. I can't believe I started this just to take a 7 month hiatus.. Anyway, I'm back now. :)

She awoke to the bustling of early customers chatting and giggling at tables as Greta shouted their orders to Carol behind the counter.

“ _ So much for privacy,” _ Jane thought as she hoisted herself over to hang her legs off the edge of the bed. She pulled a half-drank bottle of whiskey out of her pack, you know, so she could start the day off  _ right. _

She had dreamt about life in the vault, away from this nightmare of a city, where the deadliest creature she could imagine was a heated Amata. It was funny, really. Before leaving, she had never once even imagined that it was possible. To emerge from the safe haven they had been blessed with. To be greeted by a strange flying robot in the devastated town of Springvale. To find the tall walls of Megaton and to be  _ allowed _ in, no questions asked.

In the vault, they were taught that the topsiders were barbarians, maybe even feral. She had come to discover that this wasn’t the case.

For the first time since her arrival, Jane had fully registered the  _ smell _ of this place. How could she have missed it the night before? The mix of rot and mildew. Maybe it was the whiskey, but she had to find a bathroom fast, or she’d expel the contents of her stomach onto Carol’s, sort-of clean, floor. And that would be  _ rude _ .

After hastily finding a toilet to retch in, Jane sniffed up the droplets forming in her nose and flipped through her pipboy to the radio tab, tuning in just in time to hear the overly-repeated story of how her father had visited GNR just weeks before she had. A small reminder that she had  _ just  _ missed him. It hurt, but she had to keep trying. Keep looking, or she may lose him for good.

As Jane exited the common room that used to be a bathroom, she caught sight of two ghouls at the top of the stairs entering The Ninth Circle.

_ Charon. _

There it was again. She had to go see for herself. Willow and Carol had both told her to stay away, but she just wanted to take a peak. They had mentioned the enormous “guard dog” that, by contract, was there to protect Ahzrukhal. She didn’t plan on staying long.

* * *

But she had. Snowflake had followed her in and convinced her to let him give her a haircut. “ _ That’s a rats nest and a half! _ ” he’d said. So there she sat, facing the biggest guy in the room, as Snowflake trimmed at the ends of her, now shoulder-length hair. She studied the man in the corner. How the only movements he made were the flick of his eyes whenever someone new entered the bar. Jane could barely tell if he was even breathing. He watched each customer come and go as he tightly gripped his, surprisingly well kept, shotgun.

He had looked at her, but only once. Just long enough to keep tabs on just how many weapons she was carrying. This guy was  _ good. _ Despite the hostility Ahzrukhal showed his customers, no one ever seemed to bite back. Everyone kept their distance from the mysterious man in the corner, though they occasionally threw him a look or two before gossiping to each other about him. 

_ Who was this guy?  _ That was it. She had to know.

After handing Snowflake a bundle of caps for his service, Jane made her way to the counter. She wasn’t prepared for the devilish look of delight that spread across Ahzrukhal’s face as he noticed her rest an elbow on the counter. 

“Don’t you look absolutely… miserable. Pull up a stool and lay down a few caps, tell Uncle Ahzrukhal all about it.” He threw her a cheeky smile, teeth browned from age and alcohol. He eyed the curvature of her physique as she relaxed in her seat.

“Ahem, well..” she cleared her throat and asked about Charon’s contract.

“Sorry lady, he ain’t for sale.” he leaned toward her, stopping about an inch from her face. The stench coming from his mouth had her almost sliding off the back of her seat. “Unless you have something a little more.. intimate to offer..”

His eyes violated her almost indescribably. The glance down at her cleavage would have made her retch, if she hadn’t already done so, and she quickly declined the offer. “Sorry sir, I’m not for sale either.”

“Well, that’s too bad.” he backed off a ways before continuing. “I wouldn’t have given him up anyways. That man’s too good at keeping the riff-raff out, I don’t know what I’d do without him.” He shot Charon an evil smile and let out a chuckle. “Not only that, but I wouldn’t want him forgetting all the discipline he’s learned during his time here.”

“Discipline?” Jane couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy. Being made to stand guard for hours on end, no food or bathroom breaks. She couldn’t recall him speaking for the entire hour she had sat down for her haircut.

“I believe in  _ physical _ punishment.” No doubt, the man standing before her had a history of doing horrible things to get his way.

Jane had, in that moment, made a decision. She was not going to let this continue any longer. She dug out every bottlecap she could find in her bag and piled them onto the counter in front of her. 

“You got 1,000 caps if you hand him over.” she bargained, regretting the look of desperation she had shot him; a look he seemed to have caught on to.

He rested an elbow in his hand, thumbing at the mangled flesh of his chin, considering her offer. “Sorry lady, no can do. Throw in another thousand and I’ll consider it.”

Damn. She shoveled the caps over the edge of the counter, back into her bag. Where in the hell was she going to get a  _ thousand  _ more caps. She had originally planned on spending them on an infirmary for her home, but it looks like she had something more important to use them for, in her heat-of-the-moment decision.

She would be back.

* * *

“I’m back.” She blurted as she burst through the double doors of The Ninth Circle. It had taken her several weeks to scrape together enough caps to make the deal. Not only had she completed the job for Three Dog and discovered that the next step to finding her father was to head to Rivet City, but she had also delivered a letter to Ian West in Meresti station and came across some very *ahem* delusional personalities while she had been there. Long story short, she had made enough caps selling the junk she found on her adventures that she could now afford to buy Charon’s contract.

“ _ Jesus _ smoothskin… Alright let’s see it.” Ahzrukhal cleared off a space on the counter for her to dump her caps, only for her to drop a very large, jingly sack in front of him. 

“Two thousand caps. You can count them if you want.” She zipped her pack closed and shot a victorious gaze in Charon’s direction. He stared blankly at her with an indecipherable expression.

Ahzrukhal picked up the sack, remarking at how heavy it was as he gave it a shake, smile creeping onto his lips. 

“Alright kid, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More to come! Please leave any critiques in the comments! I still have a lot to learn!!!


End file.
